Hip Hop Trifecta Three New Albums In June By Four Great Artists

Three weeks in a row and three albums by four of my favorite hip-hop artists. Each of the albums are from completely different spheres of hip-hop, so there’s plenty for the narrow minded listener to disagree with me! Good month for things I like.

Thieves Banquet by Akala

The first album has already been released, it’s from the sphere of British hip-hop. Akala is probably the best and most educated pure lyricists out there, at the very least among the socially conscious rappers. I’ve already given this album a few spins and have enjoyed it so far. Akala has headed towards playing with a live band on his last two releases, which is both good and bad. I’ll have a lot more to write about this album soon.

Thieves Banquet was released on June 11th, 2013. Below is the title track and gives a good idea about what Akala is all about.

Yeezus by Kanye West

The next album I can hardly wait for is Ye’s new album Yeezus. Kanye West isn’t always the most articulate in his rhymes or his public persona but he always reaches a higher plateau artistically. Somehow he covers ground in the abstract as an artist which is what makes his work genius in a way you wouldn’t know if you only gave a passing listen to his music or were only exposed to the TMZ version of Kanye.

Up to this writing Kanye West has performed two great songs on Saturday Night Live from his new album Yeezus which scheduled for release on June 18th, 2013.

Run the Jewels by El-P and Killer Mike

The third highly anticipated album coming out in June comes from the semi-underground internet fueled sphere of hip-hop. Run the Jewels by Killer Mike and El-P is an album that has all of us music geeks squirming in our chairs. Killer Mike lyrically is actually a little bit of a mix between Kanye and Akala. Socially conscious rhymes with a pop sensibility is the name of the game for Killer Mike. It’s unfortunate that most people still only remember him from a so-so Outkast song.

El-P is one of the most talented dual producer/rappers ever. As for production he’s perpetually on my top five all-time list. I love his beats. Rapping wise he can be hit or miss. He’s one of my favorite when his flow is tight to the beat, however the songs I didn’t care for on Cancer 4 the Cure were the ones he had a sort of narrating/spoken word flow. Either way he’s great and I know all three of these albums will be great.

El-P and Killer Mike’s album Run the Jewels will be available for free on June 26th, 2013 for download all over the freakin’ internet.